"I just got off the phone from Joe Pennachetti, who is our city manager, and I told him this is unacceptable," Ford said.

"Unfortunately, someone is going to have to pay the price for this. If we have to dismiss someone because of their poor purchasing abilities, that's what we're going to do."

The original Warren Platner chairs that these replicas replaced are currently in storage. Ford says he told Pennachetti to bring the old chairs back out.

"Get them out of storage, see if we can return these ones," he said.

Ford told Newstalk 1010 host Jerry Agar he'll be at City Hall Friday afternoon to ask bureaucrats to explain to him how they can justify the expense, took full responsibility for the spending and guaranteed he'll get an answer.

"I don't want them to use the old heritage this and heritage that — that's just a cop out," Ford said.

The mayor said he also wants to know whether the city got three competitive bids for the chairs or whether it was a sole-source contract.

City Hall Bureau Chief Don Peat continues to bring you the latest reaction on the chair scandal: